[SuperMatt18]

You can tell by my post count that it's Dec. 20th and a very slow day at work today.

I was trying to think about what parts from The Last Jedi that JJ tried to keep in Rise of Skywalker vs what was retconned.

Kept:

- Rey/Kylo relationship and the inner conflict of Kylo (strongest part of the trilogy IMO )
- Luke's Redemption Arc, Returning to the Jedi, and the Force
- Poe becoming more of a leader and being groomed for that role by Leia
- Finn fully committing to the resistance and being willing to make the sacrifice play
- The "Anyone can be a Jedi" theme with Finn (and potentially other rebellion stormtroopers) being Force Sensitive

Reconned/Shelved:

- Idea of Grey in the galaxy and it being as not as clear as good vs. evil (Although in retrospect that was also just part of Finn's arc because after that he fully committed to the good and being part of the rebellion)
- Rose was shelved and her role minimized (Better for the movie but I do feel bad for the actress who dealt with a lot of #### that now seems like it was validated)
- Being able to hyperspeed ram a whole fleet (also returned to the traditional Star Wars fleet of space craft)

Unclear:

-Might have been the plan all along for Palpatine to be the big bad behind Snoke / Rey's Grandfather all along (considering this was hinted in TFA and TLJ makes me think it was always planned)

Lots of credit to JJ though. He was in a tough spot with the fan base and with the sour taste that TLJ had left in some peoples mouths and I think he was able to land it pretty nicely actually. Kept the good, tried to get rid of most of the bad, and incorporated the fan service people wanted (the kiss being the only major miss IMO).